In my later years of medical school, I thought that pain treatment
was below me. Even though acupuncture was best known for its effective
pain relief, I thought that the Western medical world was simply
behind as usual. We were amazed to learned all the other diseases
we could treat with acupuncture, like neurological problems, immune
system dysfunction, anxiety, and depression, and I thought, "Anyone
can treat pain. I'd rather focus on something more interesting."

As I wrote about Chinese medicine on the Pulse website, I thought,
"It would be more beneficial for acupuncture's image if I
focused on something like psychology. And, people really need
to understand the complexity and power of our herbal medicine
system."

So talking about the treatment of pain wasn't really on my list.

Western vs. Eastern Pain Relief

But, I couldn't help seeing that Western medicine didn't have
great pain relief solutions. They always have the side effects
of some drugs, and the addictive potential of the opiates (their
most powerful pain killers).

My wonderfully well-read wife subscribes to a journal called
The Pain Practitioner (www.aapainmanage.org/literature/PainPrac.php).
After reading that for a few months, I suddenly realized that
they never mentioned acupuncture. That's crazy, I thought. After
all, it competes with drugs in terms of effectiveness and doesn't
cause side effects. Plus, it's superior in permanently removing
neurogenic pain, and preventing temporary pain from going through
the "grooved into the brain" process that leads to chronic
pain syndromes.

When you think of acupuncture, the first thing that should
come to mind is "Superior for treating pain."

Higher Standards for Pain Relief with Acupuncture

I've found that many acupuncturists do not enjoy treating pain.
I think this may be because they haven't learned a style of acupuncture
that treats pain effectively and quickly. In October 2002, I began
a mentorship with Robert Chu, who had learned a quick and powerful
pain-relieving acupuncture system from a student of the famous
Taiwanese acupuncturist, Master Tong.

Dr. Chu has taught me several acupuncture systems that are not
currently taught in acupuncture schools. His goal is immediate
pain relief, to some degree, and immediate relaxation or a sense
of well being in other diseases.

This is a high standard - we can't always achieve total pain
relief with one treatment. It may take ten treatments to make
a permanent dent in some situations. But I like having big goals.
I think I'm more likely to make progress that way.

Location and Cause of Pain

In the clinic, first we find out where your pain is. If you've
been in an accident, or there are nerve-related issues, we do
a physical examination to discover the nature of the problem.
For example, your pain may be due to a problem in the spine, messages
from the brain, one of your internal organs, or because you've
bruised a muscle, tendon, or ligament.

Sometimes, we can't find an obvious cause, even with X-rays,
MRI's, and lab tests. We have to assume then that the cause is
neurogenic- from the brain, nervous system, or even the psyche.
Pain can be a manifestation of emotion. There's nothing wrong,
or less valid about that kind of pain.

Actually, Chinese medicine is well-suited to treat that. And
people with pain of a psychological origin may find their Western
physician less sympathetic, because they always have to look out
for addicts. Acupuncture, conversely, can treat addiction.

These are not the only causes of pain. It is important to know
the cause, and not just blindly attempt to relieve the symptoms.
Otherwise, ineffective treatments could be due to a missed diagnosis.
Also, we may approach pain from a vertebral problem differently
than we do pain of unknown origin.

Rating the Pain & Measuring Progress

For each pain location, I have patients rate the severity on
a scale of 1-10. A "10" would be the worst pain possible,
like giving birth or a kidney stone. Once we know the degree of
pain for each site, we can assess how much the acupuncture treatment
changed it. It's nice when there's an immediate improvement of
20-30%, or even 100%, which happens in some cases.

Sometimes, the patient can't reproduce the pain on the table
because of posture, so we have to wait until the treatment is
over. If possible, we can needle so that measuring progress is
easier. For example, if your pain is worse when walking, we can
needle your hand (this is distal needling- needling away from
the site of pain- another topic entirely) while you walk around.
Then we can tell immediately if we're on the right track or not.

Complementary Pain Management

At the same time, you may do other therapies. You might be looking
into surgery, or other solutions- for example, than is a synthetic
knee injection for people with very little knee cartilage. The
synthetic fluid lasts for several months.

Interestingly, researchers have found that back pain does not
always correlate to changes in the spine. They've found many people
with vertebral problems that have no pain at all, and that some
people with constant pain have no obvious structural changes.

To me, this underlines the primacy of the nervous system. Your
brain interprets and creates nerve signals. Sometimes pain has
to be "unlearned." This process may be accomplished
with acupuncture alone, or in combination with counseling, meditation,
or hypnosis.

In some situations, physical rehabilitation is indicated. Specific
exercises prescribed by a trained physical therapist may help
you regain strength and function in the affected part of the body.
You may also avail yourself of the slow, demanding, and healing
movements of Taichi.

The Process of Pain Control

For some people, pain goes away immediately, and they are otherwise
healthy. In that case, their partnership with the acupuncturist
may come to an end.

But, others are stuck with chronic pain, and need continual treatment
to experience a better quality of life. In these cases, it may
be better to see the acupuncturist every other day for concentrated
therapy- we're more likely to shift the body's neurological patterns
that way. If that doesn't work, the acupuncturist may help you
purchase a microcurrent or tens unit- these are electrical stimulator
pads that you can use at home (or, in fact, anywhere) to keep
the pain at bay. The pads are applied to specific points according
to the theories of Chinese medicine.

For those whose pain is cause or greatly influenced by emotional
and mental factors, Chinese medicine can recommend dietary changes
and new emotional habits. Taichi and meditation can have a normalizing
effect on the nervous and immune systems as well.

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The PULSEAll information herein provided is for educational use only and not meant to substitute
for the advice of appropriate local experts and authorities.Copyright 1999-2074, Pulse Media International, Brian
Carter, MSci, LAc, Editor